(Reuters) – The Federal Drug Administration is considering a recommendation that an independent body should monitor some research put to the agency by tobacco companies, underscoring the growing concern about conflicts of interest in scientific research.

The recommendation was submitted by the Institute of Medicine, a scientific research organization that’s part of the National Academy of Sciences, and is based on its 2011 report. It suggests that any research provided to the FDA by manufacturers of so-called modified-risk tobacco products, which companies want to market as “less” risky, should be overseen by an independent body.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considerating of a series of year-old regulatory recommendations issued by a coalition of tobacco companies.

Beginning Tuesday, interested parties and members of the public will have 60 days to consider the proposal submitted to FDA in January of last year. The recommendations relate to manufacturing practices and the industry’s interpretation of existing regulations, according toa notice to be published in the federal register.

A docket will be created for comments and related materials, including the proposal,here.

British American Tobacco Plc (BATS) said it may sell an alternative nicotine product in the U.K. as early as next year, as Europe’s largest cigarette maker moves to counter stricter global restrictions on smoking.

The maker of Lucky Strikes is expecting approval for a new “tobacco inhalation device” that is not an electronic cigarette by the end of this year and it could be “ready to launch some time in 2014, if not, 2015,” Kingsley Wheaton, BAT’s director of corporate and regulatory affairs, said in a telephone interview today.